Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1010948
44 S U M M E R 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y PROTECTING OUR MOST VALUABLE TOOL: OUR EARS Do you remember that fabulous feeling you experienced when you were on an excursion and came across a rocky riverbed or stream and how relaxing it was to sit and listen to the rushing water? Much later, having returned home to your regular routine, that very relaxing sound of rushing water may have seemed to stay with you. Perhaps you heard it all day long and you just went about your routine attempting to ignore it. Maybe you did not become aware of it until the end of a long, tedious workday. You went out for a meal, were on your way home and started to hear that rushing sound again. There are other reoccurring sounds you may have heard. Maybe it was a buzzing sound or perhaps even a ringing in one of your ears or maybe in both of them. You may even have been able to identify a position of the source. If you went to an exciting concert or a sporting event, you may have had the same experience—hearing a ringing in your ears long after the event was over. These isolated sounds that you may have heard are symptomatic of tinnitus and there are many factors that can contribute to this condition. b y E d w a r d L . M o s k o w i t z C A S We know how sound levels put us at risk of potentially damaging our hearing. We are constantly reminded of the dangers of noise exposure, whether it is by industrial safety posters or articles in the trade publications or at trade shows and product events. While we in the entertainment business do not work on the tarmac at an airfield constantly being subjected to the 140 dB of jet engines, as we travel, we are visually aware of the precautions we see the airfield workers utilizing to protect themselves. In our profession, we are also exposed to excessive noise during our workday. The trends in both production and post production are for longer workdays. Ten-hour and 12-hour days are now seemingly minimums. We work in open-field situations and/or need to produce sound levels to replicate the total theater experience. Working on production doing location recording increases some of those potential dangers. Trying to capture clear and pristine dialogue is our paramount responsibility. Additionally, new tools added to our equipment packages often leave us trying to critically evaluate the quality as to whether it can be manipulated in post production. Often working outside or in barely controlled sound circumstances, trying to isolate yourself from sometimes uncontrollable environments by using headphones to monitor and evaluate your recordings becomes a required skill. You often will find the sound mixer trying to isolate himself from the crowd of production while staying close enough to remain a contributing partner.